Expo Milano 2015 has been a huge global event organized in Milan by the local state institutions with the approval of the whole italian political enviroment. It involved many of the world's governments, multinational concerns, companies and industries providing them a platform to interact and showcase their projects and plans on the yearly theme "feeding the planet, energy for life". Hyped up as a glamourous event, it was supposed to be an occasion for the city to re-evaluate itself through the creation of new employment and the financements for the public works necessary to its preparation.

Beside the obvious corruption during the public works and the unpleasant show of McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Monsanto explaining their plans to save the planet to a paying public, Expo 2015, in spite of being state organized and funded, employed its workers under extremely exploitative conditions (In Italy the absence of social system and unemployment welfare payments forces workers to accept unfair working conditions, under the fear of not being able of support themselves, in a kind of social blackmail). Moreover, following police controls requested by the government, in the greatest mass surveillance of workers ever seen, more than 600 of them were refused entrance to the building on the first day of work (thus revoking without notice their employment contract) due to their alleged belonging to radical political enviroments.

All this was supposed to encounter some backlash: on May 1st 2015, during a demonstration against Expo, huge riots broke out in the rich areas of Milan's city center, followed by a big scandal and long trail of controversial debate.

On November, 12th 2015 5 people get arrested in Athens and other 5 in Milan, as a consequence of an investigation by the italian police following the events happened during the NoExpo MayDay: among other charges they are accused of "devastation and plunder", an offence punished with up to 15 years imprisonment.

"Devastation and plunder" is an offence originally introduced during the italian fascist regime (whose penal code is in Italy still partly in use). Meant by the fascist legislators for repression in civil war contexts, it punishes violent acts directed exclusively at objects and properties. In the last years it's being used by modern Italy's supposedly democrating goverments to repress internal dissent, terrorizing protesters with extremely heavy and unproportioned penalties. This happened for the first time after World War II during the trial against the protesters in 2001's Genoa anti-WTO demostrations. At the present moment, and for the first time in history, 3 different trials for such charges are simultaneously taking place.

Thanks to a big solidarity movement, Greece refused to concede extradition for the 5 arrested in Athens. Those arrested in Milan were taken to trial, after spending long time in jail waiting for it, as usual by the slow times of italian judicial system. The evidence against them was weak and proved nothing except their presence at the demonstration. The prosecutors made use of a juridical norm called "psychic joint participation": this means that who did not necessarily commit a crime, but is present without preventing it, is punishable as much as if they were commiting it. Luckily, the date of the trial was strategically placed during the elections for the new major in Milan and the candidate of the Democratic Party was in need of support by the left wing voters, so the sentences have been unusually mild for the kind of accusations. They are anyway heavy, especially considering that they are not even accused of having personally commited the crimes they are condemned for.

One of them was judged innocent and was released, (after anyway having spent 6 months in jail waiting for trial), after it's been proved that he was already under police custody when the damages took place. Most of the others, after some time in jail and at house arrest, have been now released, each of them receiving 15.000€ fine. One, still under house arrest, has now to fight against a civil court lawsuit for damages to a bank, under the ridiculous accusation of being "the leader of the black blocks". Being responsible, as leader, for all the damages happened during the demonstration, he's risking being condamned to refund the bank for 900.000€ (!!!): a clear attempt to ruin his life.

The legal and detention costs and the fines of our mates are extremely expensive and none of them can afford bearing them. For who knows them personally and knows the situation in the city, it's clear that the reasons why they are being prosecuted are others than what they are accused of and are related to their engagement and/or notoriety in the city's squatter and radical scene.
With these trials and sentences the italian state means to warn and threaten whoever wants to oppose with strength and determination its merciless capitalist politics.